The Scottsville Vampire Invasion

Chapter 8

I enter Ms. Hunter's home, go past the EMTs, Glenn and a group of officers congregating in the living room. At the dining room table, Ms. Hunter is face down in a pile of mash potatoes. I take the crime investigation kit off of my shoulder, put it on the ground, open it and get a pair of bright blue, plastic gloves. Gently I lift up her head. Some of the potatoes stick to her cheek as I turn her over and examine her. Just like all the other victims, she has a large wound on the side of her neck. Damn, I was hoping she died of natural causes. Now, I got another one. 

"Just like the rest of them," I say half to myself and half out loud. 

As I continue to inspect the area I hear, "Is there a cause of death other than the cholesterol?" Glenn stands next to me, writing on a notepad.  

"Get the hell out of here," I yell. 

He continues to write. I grab his arm. "Away from the crime scene." 

He pulls away from me, laughs as he scribbles and makes his way to the living room. "Out of the house now," I yell. He keeps writing and leans against the open door on the porch keeping one foot in the house and the other outside.  

Mark walks to the table and checks out the spread. "Wow, Ms.Hunter's fried chicken. She won the blue ribbon for that at the fair. Looks like she was expecting company." He reaches for the chicken. I intercept his arm. "Are you nuts? This is a crime scene." 

He stops himself. "Sorry Chief, I can't help it when I see her cooking." 

"Go back over there." I point to the living room. "In fact, go somewhere else." I have the worst staff. Other than Josh and Bear they're all a bunch of imbeciles. If there wasn't a hiring freeze, I'd throw half these guys out, but I can't backfill them.  

He puts his hands up and steps back. "Relax Chief." He heads back over to the group of officers in the living room. Bear walks in the front door. I wave him over. He stands next to me and studies her neck. "Shit," is all he says. I open the crime scene bag and get out the fingerprinting kit. 

"Who found the body?" he asks. 

"Good question. Allen, who found the body?"  

Allen looks up from his conversation with the officers in the living room. "Her co-worker came to pick her up for work." 

"Where is she?" I ask. 

"She went to work." 

"You let her go? You're supposed to keep the witness at the crime scene."  

"She didn't even come in the house. She just looked in the window." 

"I don't care. It's procedure. Get her and bring her back here." 

He rolls his eyes. "Jeez, is he uptight or what?" He wanders out of the house. 

I'm about to get to work when my phone rings. It's Josh.  

"Chief, we got a big problem." 

I put my hand up to my forehead and take a deep breath, "What is it?" 

"It's the Downey kid. He's missing." 

I hang my head. "What happened?" 

"Looks like someone opened his bedroom window and took him." 

"I'll be there." I put the phone down and turn to Bear. "We have an issue on the other side of town. You're in charge here. If Mark grabs a piece of chicken, rip his arm off and make sure Glenn stays out of here." 

"What's up?" Bear asks. 

"The Downey kid disappeared. Hopefully it's nothing. When you call Dr. Albert make sure the coroner from Anderson is with him. That's the part of the agreement. Their coroner has to monitor all of his work. The only good news that can come out of this is we'll see if he's involved in this." I lean in and whisper into his ear. "You run this just like any other investigation. We're going to rule everything out before we go chasing any other type of explanation." Bear nods as he opens the bag and takes out the equipment.